# Your Ten Favorite Books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 3, 2000, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451 "2000-05-03T13:44:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smeagal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Smeagal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeagal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/41 "2000-05-04T00:53:14Z")
Woo! list time:-) In no particular order: Slaughterhouse 5 Sirens of Titan mmm… Little Prince Tolkien trilogy Hocus Pocus, almost forgot that one. Once and Future King lalala Gosh Oh yeah! Marcian Chronicles The October Country The Space Odyssey trilogy and the Bible I suppose. So its more then 10, what do you want, my blood?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![xekul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/838e76/32.png) [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/42 "2000-05-04T02:36:28Z")
Here we go. [ul] [li]The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (translated)[/li][li]Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov[/li][li]The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath[/li][li]Catch-22 by Joseph Heller[/li][li]Dune by Frank Herbert[/li][li]A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess[/li][li]The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (translated)[/li][li]Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh[/li][li]The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe[/li][li]The Complete Works of Arthur Rimbaud (translated)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/43 "2000-05-04T04:01:18Z")
Great topic, Eve. I’ve been pondering my second ten. I’ve also been considering how to deal with this question in a pragmatic manner. I mean, life is crazy, surreal – anything can happen (_Anything Can Happen_ by the Papashvily’s, definitely to be included on my second ten.) I actually **could** end up on a desert island, right. So, being a prototypical Eagle Scout, my motto is “Be Prepared”. How, how can I prepare for this eventuality? For me, reading material isn’t just a nicety – it’s a necessity. Believe me, I’ve been reduced to reading the Yellow Pages in culturally disadvantaged hotel rooms throughout this great land of ours. I must have reading material. Thankfully, the march of technology has saved me from a island existence devoid of literary stimulation. I’ve been carrying a wondrous little device around in my pocket for weeks now – a handheld computer with 8 megabytes of memory. All ten of my must haves could be stored as 1’s and 0’s and toted around on my hip. I could keep my literary treasures with me always (well, the Gibbon might chew up a little silicon, but everything else should fit.) I’ll do it! I can only encourage you all to protect yourselves in the same manner. Be prudent! Carry your top ten around without. Who knows when you could go on a three hour tour and end up eating coconut cream pies next to the lagoon without a well-turned phrase or a pithy insight to enjoy! Emulate Roy Hinkley! Take your books with you _wherever you go!_ ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/44 "2000-05-04T04:32:24Z")
Okay, to pare it down to 10, I added some private rules for myself, including a limit of 1 per author and a limit to SF/fantasy. In no particular order: -_The More Than Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide_ (_Hitchhiker_ through _So Long and Thanks_, plus the Zaphod short story, it’s in one volume, so it counts as one book), Douglas Adams -_The Callahan Chronicals_ (Yes, that’s how the title is spelled, _Callahans Crosstime Saloon_, _Time Travelers Strictly Cash_ and _Callahan’s Secret_ and it’s in one volume also, so it counts as one book), Spider Robinson -_Fletch Forever_ (_Fletch_, _Confess, Fletch_ and _Fletch’s Fortume_. Again one volume = one book), Gregory McDonald -_The End of the Game_ (_Jinian Footseer_, _Dervish Daughter_ and _Jinian Star-eye_. One volume = one book), Sheri S. Tepper -either _Jhereg_ or _Taltos_, Steven Brust or else one of the _Fuzzy_ novels -either _Ellen Foster_ or _A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_ (Geez, Nacho, I didn’t need any more to add, you know 😉 ) -_Thursday’s Children_, Rumer Godden -_The Bean Trees_. Barbara Kingsolver -_Oliver Twist_, Charles Dickens -either _Pride and Prejudice_ or _To Kill a Mockingbird_ (dekayx, see my comment to Nacho) And I still couldn’t cut it down to ten. ---
**Author:** ![DVous\_Means](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DVous\_Means](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVous_Means)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/45 "2000-05-04T05:39:06Z")
How the hell would I know? I thought the best books were the ones you haven’t read yet 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/46 "2000-05-04T11:52:25Z")
EVE, it was Steven King’s ‘IT’ MARLITHARN, I hated ‘Catcher in the rye’. I just don’t get it. ‘Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy’ seems to have made the most lists. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/47 "2000-05-04T12:55:39Z")
Oooh, Spud, do you have “eyes” for me? Spooje, as far as "It"s go, gimme Elinor Glyn over Stephen King any day . . . ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/48 "2000-05-04T13:06:41Z")
The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey Dune by Frank Herbert Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck The World According to Garp by John Irving Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon Like the Lions Tooth by Marjorie Kellog Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott Red Dragon (Having a brain fart on this one, he also wrote Silence of the Lambs.) Trinity by Leon Uris Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/49 "2000-05-04T14:14:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas > Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey > Dune by Frank Herbert > Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck > The World According to Garp by John Irving > Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon > Like the Lions Tooth by Marjorie Kellog > Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott > Red Dragon (Having a brain fart on this one, he also wrote Silence of the Lambs.) > Trinity by Leon Uris > > Needs2know > > \*\* I believe that was Thomas Harris who wrote Red Dragon. ---
**Author:** ![\_LiZa\_JaNe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/bbce88/32.png) [@\_LiZa\_JaNe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_LiZa_JaNe)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/50 "2000-05-05T01:17:56Z")
The ten books I would want with me when I get stranded on a desert island would be(in no particular order): 1. Grimm’s complete Fairy Tales 2. Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles(hey everyone else is counting series’ as one book) 3. Chronicles of the Cheysuli - Jennifer Roberson(see above) 4. The Immortals - Tracy Hickman 5. Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett(This is a very funny book…definitely need some laughter on a desert island!!) 6. 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories - Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz, & Martin H. Greenberg 7 & 8) two Stephen King books…can’t live w/o those!!! 7. one of my Shel Silverstein books (either “A Light in the Attic” or “Where the Sidewalk Ends”) 8. Swan Song - Robert R. McCammon(thank you Needs2Know!!! I borrowed this book from a friend of mine and LOVED it… I forgot who wrote it…now I can go out & get it…cuz I want to read it again!!!) Sorry, if I broke the rules…but I just gotta have all these books!!! -LiZa JaNe 😉 ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/51 "2000-05-05T20:38:56Z")
Not in order: 1. All Creatures Great and Small series by James Herriot 2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 3. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 4. Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon 5. Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough 6. The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams 7. Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy 8. Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel (will she _ever_ finish the damn story?) 9. Harry Potter, etc., by P.K. Rowling 10.Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell Looking over my list, I’m amazed at how many authors are women and how many are Scottish/Irish/British. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/52 "2000-05-05T21:17:44Z")
**A Clockwork Orange** … Anthony Burgess **Breakfast of Champions** … Kurt Vonnegut **Slaughterhouse V** … Kurt Vonnegut **The Little Prince** … Antoine de Saint-Exupéry **The Alchemist** … Paulo Coelho **The Pilgrimage** … Paulo Coelho **I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew** … Dr. Seuss **Galapagos** … Kurt Vonnegut **1984** … George Orwell **Matters of Light and Depth** … Ross Lowell ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/53 "2000-05-05T21:35:34Z")
PunditLisa, I love your choices. I left off the Clan of the Cavebear series after vol. III – you’re right, it was getting too long! I guess I wasn’t as dedicated as you to keep on with it. Did Ayla ever reunite with her firstborn son? (I know, I’m too lazy to go and read it myself!) ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/54 "2000-05-06T13:11:15Z")
Pugluvr, last we checked, Ayla was pregnant and they had traveled back to Jondalar’s village. No reunion with Dirk (sp?) yet, though I’m anticipating a clash among the two species soon. Auel hasn’t written a new book in over 10 years, and she’s getting older, so we may NEVER know what she wanted to have happen… Luckily Gabaldon’s new book is due in early 2001 and the new Harry Potter is coming out soon, too, I think. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/55 "2000-05-06T14:12:01Z")
Yes, I know, I’m cheating. But I had a list of honorable mentions to begin with… Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas The Catcher in the Rye And, thanks to people who brought all these up somehwere in the thread… Jitterbug Perfume Watership Down The (soon-to-be) trilogy by George R. R. Martin (thanks for reminding me of that one, AuntiePam!) The Anne of Green Gables books Swan Song (this one is as good as The Stand, but not nearly as well-known) About half of PunditLisa’s list (I love the Herriot books, The Thorn Birds, Circle of Friends, and the Clan of the Cave Bear series) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Cobweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Cobweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Cobweb)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2000, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451/56 "2000-05-09T04:49:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > 1. _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_ - Pirsig > 2. _The Stranger_ - Camus > 3. _Nausea_ - Sartre > 4. _Atlas Shrugged_ - Rand > 5. _Critique of Pure Reason_ - Kant > 6. _Tao Te Ching_ - Tzu > 7. _Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel_ - Burton > 8. _Plato’s Dialogues_ > 9. _The Count of Monte Cristo_ - Dumas > 10. _Romeo and Juliet_ - Shakespeare > \*\* I would have thought that putting _Rand_ right next to _Kant_ would cause an explosive hypergolic reaction. Maybe we should put Plato and Camus between them, just to be safe… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-ten-favorite-books/18451.md?page=2)